Keith Vaz: Immigration backlog 'totally unnacceptable'

After a report reveals that the Home Office’s immigration backlog will take
until the year 2050 to clear at current rates, Keith Vaz, Chair of the Home
Affairs Select Committee, says the border service needs "a change of
culture".

11:32AM BST 13 Jul 2013

As the immigration backlog was revealed to have topped 500,000, the Home Affairs committee described the total as “staggering” and demanded further information from Theresa May, the Home Secretary.

A report from the all-party Home Affairs Select Committee said the total had leapt from 322,000 in the third quarter last year to more than 502,000 at the end of 2012, following the disclosure of a previously unreported 190,000 cases.

Keith Vaz, the committee chairman, said: “The backlog of cases has now hit a staggering half a million people. This could fill Wembley Stadium to capacity six times over.

“It has risen by 56 per cent in just three months. At the current rate it will take 37 years to clear and the Home Office cannot confirm that this is the last of the backlogs.

“There should be no more bonuses paid to any senior management at the Home Office until the backlogs are cleared.”